The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts My newest purchase

Well about 7 years ago I contacted my neighbor about an old military truck that was parked in the corner of her property. She said her deceased husband promised it to another person. I watched the years pass by and after talking to her on and off until one day about a 2 month ago I was working on my 46 Chevy when I heard an odd sound, I looked out the door and seen it driving down the driveway, leaving a smoke cloud behind it.

A couple days later I was talking to my mother and she told me a coworkers husband (A friend of the family’s) had gotten the truck from our neighbor in trade for some work he had done. I didn't have any money so I let it go. A few weeks later our friend calls me and asks if I was interested in the truck. I drove to his house and we talked. He told me it was a 1942 GMC CCKW that he and our neighbor husband cut down to what it is today. He had to change the fuel pump out and put a battery in it and the truck fired up. He had topped off the fluids and greased the joints then drove it home on old fuel residue. Unfortunately I didn’t have the money, still.

Last weekend I gathered the $1500 and my friend and I bought the truck, we had plugged the block heater in (common up here in Alaska) and after a few hours it started at -15deg F all of use stood outside as the engine warmed and the heater defrosted the windows (Yes the heater worked quite well) My neighbor and I were off with him driving behind me at a speedy 4MPH I cursed and fiddled with the low gears until I figured out how to get it into high gears and I was off at 20-25 MPH with a combination of old gas and crusty spark plugs I wasn’t getting the power to shift higher than 3rd gear.

I was about half way home when the fuel ran out so I used the gas can I had brought with us I drove it the rest of the way home with the breeze coming through the windows since they didn’t roll up all the way. Then the final leg of the journey, I drove it into the garage and found the door was just scraping the top of the cab then had to lean on the parking brake hard to make sure it stopped before I drove into the wall since I didn’t have any brakes.

After about 7 years I had finally gotten the truck I was after.
http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z476/akguy34/1942%20GMC/

Fantastic! Welcome to Stovebolt! Looks like a great project. LevisPop

yea it does scream Alaska, I can't wait to take it down some mining roads grouse hunting.

Probably has a wartime 270 engine. Engine SN stamped right side behind distr., on machined pad, SN starts w/ displacement. If no SN, probably a parts engine.

well I looked its a 228 the owner thought it was a 270 the original had cracked but he thougth the partner he had bought it with replaced it with anouther 270 they were probely to stoned to care

Nice looking truck with story. Can't wait to see the video of this one in your yard! Thanks for sharing.

WOW!!!!! That's a neat truck. Can't keep a good Stovebolt down.......Congrats on your purchase. You know what they say, all good things come to those who wait

After looking at your pictures, the truck looks really straight, I didn't see any serious rust and the engine looks clean. The restoration should be straight forward. Looks like you got a great buy, worth the money.

Look for a 270 or 302(best choice)while you are using your nice truck. 228 parts are more expensive and rare. A military 302 would work, has a 2 piece pan for identity.

My guess is there was a siren on that fender at one time...

Mike B

There's very little rust there, some on the bottom of the door. That is a plus for living in Salcha, Alaska very dry barely any rust.

as regads to the 270 engine the guy I bought it from has what he called a bunch of spare engine parts and blocks he was going to bring over when the weather warms up including the PTO winch.

and as far as I can figure about the grill, the litte light abouve the headlight on that side originaly was mounted next to it where the grill would cover. I seen the second light mounted there on pictures of the original CCKWs

I don't know anything about WWII GM trucks but it has long been my understanding that the 1-1/2 single axles were Chevies and the tandem trucks were all GMC's. The model number means nothing to me so I am kind of confused but that is not a new thing, HA. It seems everyone so far takes this as a Jimmie and not a Chebbie.
Can someone (one of you MilTech truck types)shed some light on this for me?

This one has been cut down from a 2.5ton CCKW to look like a bomb carrier

Very cool truck.

Thank you, I have just installed the new brake lines and Sunday a friend was bringing a rebuild kit to rebuild the master brake cylinder. And I cut the boards for the bed. Its coming a long soon hopefully it will be ready to drive the road.

Josh

P.S. a word of advice to all -30degf is a bad time to drive a truck with the windshield open and the windows down, and before anyone says anything there was a frost buildup and we couldn't see out of them.